Agent: Jay Cutler’s Has No Plans To Retire, Despite Speculation

Bus Cook, the agent for free agent QB Jay Cutler, tells ESPN’s Adam Schefter that contrary to speculation, his client does not intend to retire from the NFL.

“Jay wants to play football,” Cook said. “He never has mentioned retirement to me. Jay Cutler, as far as I know, is ready to play and wants to play, and his skill set is as good as any quarterback in the league.”

A few weeks ago, Roman Modrowski of ESPN reported that Cutler was contemplating retirement from the NFL, as a market for him has yet to develop since he was released by Chicago.

Before that, Ian Rapoport reported that the market for Cutler is almost non-existent right now.

“I’ve had a lot of conversations with general managers or head coaches talking about where these quarterbacks are going to land and it is unbelievable that Cutler’s name rarely, if ever, comes up,” Rapoport said, via NFL.com.

Rapoport explained that there are only a few starting jobs available at this point, but neither appear to be options for Cutler at this point in time. According to Rapoport, Cutler has spoken to some about the possibility of retiring, depending on how things go in the coming months.

“There’s really only a couple starting quarterback spots that are even available,” Rapoport said. “The Browns would be one. It doesn’t seem like Cutler would be interested in going there. The Texans would be another. It doesn’t seem they have interest in him. So Cutler may face a similar situation, actually, to Tony Romo, which is to just chill, wait, and if something happens — some horrible camp injury, like what happened to Teddy Bridgewater last year — maybe Cutler’s name would be called. But I do know he’s talked to people that he knows pretty well about retirement being a possibility. He actually might have no choice.”

The Texans have been tossed out as a potential landing spot for Cutler, but they don’t appear to have serious interest in him and would rather move forward with Tom Savage and a developmental prospect.

Cutler may have to wait until later in the year for someone to get hurt for an opportunity to surface.

Cutler, 33, is a former first-round pick of the Broncos back in 2006. He spent three years in Denver before he was traded to the Bears in 2009. He was in the fourth year of his seven-year, $126.7 million contract that included $54 million guaranteed when the Bears cut him loose at the start of the 2017 league year.

In 2016, Cutler appeared in five games and throw for 1,059 yards while completing 59.1 percent of his passes to go along with four touchdowns and five interceptions.